Self-regulating sprinkler nozzle

ABSTRACT

There is provided a self-regulating sprinkling nozzle attachable to a liquid-carrying line. The nozzle comprises a housing, a vortex chamber inside the housing, a vortex-producing inlet means through which the liquid enters the vortex chamber. One wall of the chamber is constituted by a first surface of a stretchable diaphragm and the opposite wall of the chamber is provided with an aperture leading to the atmosphere. The second surface of the diaphragm is exposed to line pressure. The nozzle also comprises rotor disposed in a drive space and means entrained and set spinning by the vortex. A shaft portion of the rotor means passes through the aperture, and a liquid-throwing member is fixedly attached to, and spun by, the shaft portion as a result of the action of the vortex on the rotor means.

This is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 276,195, filed June 22, 1981,now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a self-regulating sprinkling nozzleattachable to a liquid-carrying line.

Sprinklers have become a very popular means of irrigation for certaintypes of crops, as well as for lawns, flower beds, etc. They arerelatively inexpensive, reliable, portable and easily arranged to coverany surface configuration. They suffer, however, from a seriousdrawback: their throw, i.e., the size and shape of the area a singlesprinkler can cover has so far depended on water pressure in the mainswhich is almost never constant. Thus, when pressure is high, e.g., whenthe district water reservoir is full, or when the number of consumers atany particular time is low, sprinkler throw is large and, conversely, atlow-pressure conditions, the same sprinklers have a much smaller throw.Consequently, at high-pressure conditions, a field irrigated by a numberof sprinklers may suffer from local overirrigation due to excessiveoverlap of the circular areas "swept" by the individual sprinklers,while low-pressure conditions may cause local underirrigation due to theexcessive size of "blind" spots.

The situation in this respect was improved with the appearance, on themarket, of self-regulated, vortex-type irrigation devices. Thesefeatures, however, proved to be efficient only when applied todrip-irrigation devices. Sprinklers thus modified were seen to haveinsufficient throw or an undesirable droplet spectrum, or both.

It is one of the objectives of the present invention to overcome thedrawbacks of the prior-art sprinklers and to provide a sprinkler whichis self-regulated and, therefore, as concerns throw, output anddroplet-size spectrum, largely unaffected by fluctuations in main-linepressure.

This the invention achieves by providing a self-regulating sprinklingnozzle attachable to a liquid-carrying line, comprising a housing, avortex chamber inside said housing, a vortex-producing inlet meansthrough which said liquid enters said vortex chamber, one wall of saidchamber being constituted by first surface of a stretchable diaphragmand the opposite wall of said chamber being provided with an apertureleading to the atmosphere, the second surface of said diaphragm beingexposed to line pressure, further comprising rotor means disposed in adrive space, said rotor means being entrained and set spinning by saidvortex propagated into said drive space, a shaft portion of which rotormeans passes through said aperture, and a liquid-throwing member fixedlyattached to, and spun by, said shaft portion as a result of the actionof said vortex on said rotor means.

With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressedthat the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes ofillustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention only and are presented in the cause of providing what isbelieved to be the most useful and readily understood description of theprinciples and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, noattempt is made to show structural details of the invention in moredetail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of theinvention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent tothose skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may beembodied in practice.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partly cross-sectional view of embodiment of the sprinklingnozzle according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partly cut-away top view of the nozzle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cover plate of the nozzle of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the rotor shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, there is seen in FIG. 1 a two-parthousing, the lower member 2 of which is provided with a detachable stake4, by means of which the housing can be mounted on, or above, theground. The upper housing member is in the form of a snap-in cover plate6 and comprises a first rim section 8 which serves to hold down, againstthe bottom of the lower member 2, a stretchable diaphragm 10, centeredwithin the bottom area by a number of circumferentially spacedprojections 12, seen to better advantage in the cut-away top view ofFIG. 2. The cover plate 6 is further provided with a second, central,rim section 14 defining the entrance to drive space 16, the access towhich, in a manner to be explained further below, is controlled by thediaphragm 10. The drive space 16 communicates with the atmosphere via anaperture 18, seen to better advantage in FIG. 3, a bottom view of thecover plate 6. The latter, on its outside, is provided with a hub-likeprojection 20 defining the space 16, including the aperture 18. As seenin FIG. 1, the face of the projection 20 is an inward and downwardsloping surface of an inverted cone with an obtuse apex angle. Insidethe drive space 16 there is located an anchor-shaped rotor 22 (see FIG.4) comprising a central shaft 24 from which extend a plurality of arms26, each carrying on its end fluke-like projections 28. The upperportion 30 of the shaft 24 is of reduced diameter. In assumbly, as shownin FIG. 1, the shaft 24 passes with substantial clearance through theaperture 18 and carries on its reduced end 30 a thrower disk 32. Thelower face of the disk 32 is tapering, having an apex anglesubstantially identical to that of the flaring top surface of theprojection 20. On the tapering face of the disk 32 there are provided anumber of substantially radial slots 34 which enhance the throwingeffect.

In operation, the sprinkling nozzle according to the invention works asfollows: Via a flexible tubing 36 which branches off the main line (notshown), water enters the sprinkler, filling the annular space 38 definedby the first rim section 8 of the cover plate 6 and the inside wall ofthe housing member 2. However, in order to leave the sprinkler by way ofthe outlet aperture 18--in a manner to be discussed further below--thewater must first pass from the annular space 38 into a central space orvortex chamber 42. This it can do by passing through two tangentialslots 44 (see also FIG. 3), of which in FIG. 1 only one can be seen.This tangential entry produces a vortex motion in the vortex chamber 42,which is also propagated into the drive space 16, further enhanced byyet another tangential slot 46, this time in the central rim section 14.The anchor-like rotor 22 is entrained by the vortex motion of the waterrushing upwards and also sets spinning the thrower disk 32, with whichit is fixedly connected. The water, passing through the annularclearance between the rotor shaft 24 and the wall of the aperture 18 nowenters the conical gap 48 between the thrower disk 32 and the flaringtop surface of the projection 20, producing a mushroom-like sheet ofwater 50 of considerable reach.

At this point, an explanation is in order concerning the role of thediaphragm 10 in the self-regulation feature of the sprinkling nozzleaccording to the invention.

Again consulting FIG. 1, it is seen that the water entering the nozzlevia the tubing 36 also reaches the underside of the diaphragm 10 via anelongated, groove-like recess 40, which underside is thus impacted byline pressure. If one were now to close off the aperture 18, pressureson both sides of the stretchable diaphragm 10 would be equal, as theupper surface of the diaphragm would also be impacted by full linepressure. Being thus equal, these two pressures would cancel out oneanother, and the diaphragm 10 would rest in a flat, unstretchedposition. However, water entering the vortex chamber 42 through thetangential slots 44 is subsequently escaping through the aperture 18, asindeed it should. This outflow of water, together with the pressure dropacross the tangential slots 44, 46, produces a pressure drop in thevortex chamber 42, which causes the line pressure acting on theunderside of the diaphragm 10 to bulge the latter into the vortexchamber 42. The diaphragm is thus made to closer approach, and therebyat least partly obturate, the central drive space 16, resulting in areduced outflow. Reduced outflow, in its turn, reduces the pressuredifference acting on the diaphragm 10, thus permitting it again toapproach its unbulged state, thereby reducing its obturating effect onthe drive space 16, thus allowing a larger output rate. An increasedoutput rate, however, increases the pressure difference, thereby againincreasing the diaphragm bulge, that is, the obturating effect. Thediaphragm is thus seen to oscillate about a state of equilibrium whichlargely depends on the elasticity and stretchability of the diaphragmand which determines the outflow rate of the nozzle.

To alter throw and/or droplet size and spectrum, the followingparameters can be varied: number and configuration of the slots 34,including their elimination; size of the annular clearance around therotor shaft 24; size, number and location of the tangential slots 44 and46, including possible elimination of the slot 46, and configuration ofthe rotor 22.

While the snap-in joint between the cover plate 6 and the lower bodymember 2 is certainly a practicable solution, it should be realized thatother joining means such as threaded joints or bayonet-type joints willdo equally well.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is notlimited to the details of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, andthat the present invention may be embodied in other specific formswithout departing from the essential attributes thereof, and it istherefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made tothe appended claims, rather than to the foregoing description, and allchanges which come with the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A self-regulating sprinkling nozzle attachable toa liquid-carrying line, comprising a cylindrical housing having a vortexchamber inside said housing, a vortex-producing inlet through which saidliquid enters said vortex chamber, one wall being constituted by a firstsurface of a stretchable diaphragm and the opposite wall of said vortexchamber being constituted by a cover provided with a drive spacecommunicating with said vortex chamber and having an aperture leading tothe atmosphere, the second surface of said diaphragm being exposed tothe pressure of the liquid in said liquid carrying line, said diaphragmbeing stretchable in response to variations in pressure between that insaid liquid carrying line and that in said vortex chamber to vary thevolume thereof and maintain the pressure in said vortex chamberconstant, a spinner disposed in said drive space and entrained by saidvortex propagated into said drive space, said spinner having a shaftwhich passes with substantial clearance through said aperture to permitliquid to flow therethrough, and a liquid-throwing member fixedlyattached to the end of said shaft, and spun as a result of the action ofsaid vortex on said spinner.
 2. The sprinkling nozzle as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said housing is comprised of two interlockable memberswhich, between them, hold said stretchable diaphragm in position, one ofsaid members being provided with said vortex-producing inlet means andwith said aperture, the other member being provided with access meansfor exposing said second surface of said diaphragm to said line pressureand with connector means for attachment to said liquid-carrying line. 3.The sprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 1, wherein spinner has a solidshaft of a diameter substantially smaller than the diameter of saidaperture, the vortex-chamber-facing end of which shaft is provided witha plurality of substantially radial projections offering resistance tosaid vortex and being entrained and set spinning thereby.
 4. Thesprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the upper edge of saidaperture is part of the surface of an inverted cone having an obtuseapex angle.
 5. The sprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 4, wherein saidliquid-throwing member is a disk, the nozzle-side face of which issubstantially conical, having an apex angle substantially identical tothe apex angle of said aperture-edge-containing surface.
 6. Thesprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 5, wherein said conical face ofsaid disk is provided with a plurality of substantially radial slots. 7.The sprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said housingmembers is provided with means for mounting said sprinkling nozzle on orabove the ground.
 8. The sprinkling nozzle as claimed in claim 1,wherein the entrance to said drive space is defined by a rim section andsaid diaphragm regulates the throw and output of said nozzle by varyingliquid access to said drive space across said rim section.
 9. Aself-regulating sprinkling nozzle comprisinga cylindrical housing bodyclosed at each end by a wall, one of said walls having a recess providedwith an aperture open to atmosphere; an elastic diaphragm dividing theinterior of said body into two parts, one of said parts defined by saiddiaphragm and said one wall forming a vortex chamber for the annularflow of fluid therein and thence outwardly through said aperture; meansfor attachment of a liquid supply line to said body having a firstbranch conduit including a vortex producing inlet to said vortex chamberand a second branch conduit to the other of said interior parts; aspinner disposed in said recess and entrained by the fluid flowing insaid vortex chamber, said spinner having a shaft extending through saidaperture with substantial clearance to permit liquid to flow throughsaid aperture and a member fixedly attached at the outer end of saidshaft to cause said liquid to be flung in a substantially circulardirection; said diaphragm being stretchable in response to thedifference in pressure between the liquid supplied to said secondinterior part and the liquid in said vortex chamber, the stretching ofsaid diaphragm varying the volume of said vortex chamber to maintain theliquid flowing therethrough and out of said aperture at a constant rate.10. The nozzle according to claim 9, wherein said housing body is formedof a pair of interlocking members, one of which is provided with adepending circular wall having at least one tangential hole therein, thediameter of said circular wall being less than that of said housing todefine therewith an annular chamber forming the vortex producing inletand within said circular wall the vortex chamber, and wherein theelastic diaphragm is interposed between said interlocking members andheld fixedly in place between the depending wall and the otherinterlocking member.